


to shed its armor

by Araceli Selkie (zhiro)



Category: Der Langrisser, Langrisser II, Langrisser Mobile, Langrisser Series
Genre: F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person, Short Story, Undermining Injuries, VN-Like Injuries, elwin is elwin and elwin is shameless, first elwin reader-insert, let alone langrisser's first, let alone my first post on ao3, pls forgive me for any cringe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 01:27:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhiro/pseuds/Araceli%20Selkie
Summary: at times, elwin thinks about abandoning his ideals to be with you.it's not a bad thought.
Relationships: Elwin (Langrisser)/Commander (Langrisser), Elwin (Langrisser)/Reader, Elwin (Langrisser)/You
Kudos: 1





	to shed its armor

**Author's Note:**

> i can't be the only elwin stan right? right? either way u get to fuck him in the last chapter so pls give me a chance.
> 
> disclaimer: ik liana exists. i don't care. this fic doesn't care. langrisser m doesn't care. if that premise doesn't sit well with you then i highly recommend for you to back out of this fic and find something else to read. thank you.

I won’t let you die, even if it kills me.

Seconds. Minutes. Hours, even.

Who knows how long it had been since she screamed those words. Words to make the fallen rise and to make the immobile mobile. Words cried out of a last hope, the rage of it all fueled at what seemed like nature itself turning against her at that very moment. Words that still ran fresh in his mind. 

Her blood. 

Her defiance. 

It was all she had. Yet there she was, shining in the brilliance of the sun as she pointed a mere staff at Chaos itself.

Perhaps this is all her spell allowed for him to think about. To listen to the elegy of her tragic valory. To soothe the gruesome gash that exposed the remains of his left shoulder. To ensure that his heart will always beat.

Bloodied and beaten. Crimson even running to his ears and spilling out onto the snow beneath him. 

Yet all Elwin felt was warmth. Faint even, with the snow numbing his limbs, but far from fleeting. It felt as if the sun refused to stop shining for his sake, even with darkened clouds that tried to cast an eternal overcast. As long as El Sallia’s everlasting hero had the desire to protect all from evil, the sun will have the strength to give him peace amidst despair. He wonders why that is. Wonders where she is. 

“Perhaps it’s because of Commander,” he breathed out, smiling at the sight of his breath disappearing in the chilly air. This was far from his first winter, let alone one spent on a battlefield, yet his body did its damndest to be thrilled at the idea of a winter wonderland. 

He smacked his teeth, realizing that her magic was making him drift again. She truly is trying to make him work against his will.

“It’s ok, Almedie! Teleport them back to base and protect yourself! I got this.”

“There’s still enemies, and everyone’s in-”

“This is an order from your commander!”

What. His eyes widened as he picked up on Almeda and Commander’s conversation. Is she trying to die?

His mind rang at the thought of it all, even more so as he attempted to get off the ground. Even with his body slowly melting into the white earth below him, he still pushed through. He can’t let Almeda make him retreat. No matter the injury, he can be healed. Even in death, he can simply be resurrected by Langrisser’s spirit.

Commander can not.

“Will not…” Could he even move his left arm? Matters not; he just needs to be able to grab his sword and go. Scrummaging through the snow, Elwin lifted himself off the ground the moment he made contact with a hilt. He stabbed his sword into the ground, ensuring that it was deep enough to not budge. He wiped the sweat that built up on his forehead, body shivering only slightly. Having a medic would surely be nice right now. Perhaps then a task that takes mere sounds wouldn’t suddenly require Lushiris’ own hand.

“Elwin?!”

Elwin looked over to the Almeda that was running towards him, letting out an exasperated laugh at the lovely coincidence. 

“It’s good to see you.” Pushing himself against his sword, he focused on getting off the ground once again, but even slinging the arm that barely had a shoulder attached to it made him heavily suck in his teeth.

She cringed at his desperate attempt. “You took a nasty hit; stop mo-”

“I can’t. She’s alone.”

Almeda froze. “Let me at least mend you. You’re freaking ripping your arm off at this point!”

“Save your energy for keeping the others safe.” Elwin groaned as he applied greater pressure on the sword to finally leave the ground.

“I said stop moving!” The pink haired girl moved closer to the stubborn redhead who was finally at a standstill. She frowned as she saw how deep his wound reached, shaken hands hovered over his gash. Charred skin and shattered shoulder armor made it difficult for her to pinpoint exactly where the injury even began. Even with her seeing how his arm was only connected to the rest of his body by thinned, exposed muscle and pungent iron stuffing her nostrils, what made her eyes widen was the sight of his shoulder repairing itself.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Just…” Almeda trailed off before focusing again. “Nothing; I’m on it.”

A light green hue emitted from the palms of her hands. She couldn’t help but to smile as she saw his skin rejuvenate, regaining its white pigment as opposed to its previous bloodied state. She backed away from him as she uncasted her healing spell. She looked up at him, and to describe him as exhaustion incarnate would be quite the understatement. It was written on his face, with his unkempt bangs sticking to his forehead. But his gaze was still fierce. Determined. Weakening. Even in the face of the unknown, walking in with a barely recovered body and naught but a sword in hand. 

And for what?

The smile dropped from the pink hard girl’s face. “Sorry, Elwin; can’t heal you all the way.”

“You’re fine. That was all I needed.”

Almeda raised one of her eyebrows. For once, Elwin wasn’t being angsty about helping her. It was odd, considering that he happens to be fully aware of what her current mission is. It only took one thought to make her realize that, for once, their desires possibly aligned. “You have no intentions on going back to the camp, huh?”

The male snorted. “Glad we’re on the same page. Now where is she?”

She let out a heavy sigh. “You know I can’t share that.”

“Almeda,” he narrowed his eyes at her, “I don’t care about it being an order: this is suicide.”

The pink haired girl bit down on her tongue, face flushed in face of Elwin’s defiance. “I know I know but I couldn’t do anything then-”

“I get it. Risking hundreds of lives for the sake of one is selfish. So I’ll do it, so you don’t have to. It’ll be even more painful for you to undergo something like that again anyways.”

The girl almost went limp at the image of Yulia’s sudden sacrifice flashing in her mind. She wrapped herself in her arms, succumbing to her own guilt. No, she doesn’t want for that to happen again. Screw Commander’s greater good; the least that the woman deserves after this tragic ambush is to live. “She ran towards the woods. She casted a taunt spell on herself to keep the enemies from interfering with me.”

“How many?”

“Before we had split up,” Amelda paused, “there were four.”

She stepped back out of fright at the sight of Elwin’s face instantly paling. To him, who knows how long ago that could have been. She decided to elaborate for his sake. “She still had her soldiers. It was a good decision on her end to hire the templar knights. Who knows how long they can hold up for, so please, hurry.”

Even with his mind descending into a madness mantra riddled with anxiety and fear, he regained his composure. Losing his cool will only make said fears a reality, one that he will avoid at all costs. The male gave a quick nod. “We’ll see you later.”

Tired, the girl was barely able to return his gesture with a smile of her own. “Of course; you’re Elwin.”

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

“Commander, where are you?” Elwin’s question was answered by none. Even with full awareness that he was going to be met with silence, his heart still ached.

Everything was going wrong. He couldn’t hear her voice. He couldn’t see any part of her. Because of the landscape shift, it became nigh impossible to find her trace in the snow, let alone any of the monsters. And Almeda’s words about being incapable of healing him fully was dawning on him: his fatigue wasn’t mitigated. 

He kept moving, never missing a step and surely never stopping. Never even crossed his mind.

His travels almost seemed void, until that doubt was casted away with a shrill scream.

“Commander!” On instinct, he ran towards the voice plunged deeper into the woods. He gained no response, but the two decaying harpies that appeared below his feet was all that he needed to know. 

“Hang on,” He huffed, running even faster than before as he spotted horses and their late riders scattered amidst the woods, “just a lil’ while longer.” 

Elwin appeared on the scene in the nick of time, witnessing Commander defend herself against a harpy and witch. The grip on his sword tightened as he saw the blood dripping down her arms and chest, the gashes only getting deeper and bloodier as they continued their relentless attack. They weren’t giving her a chance to heal, taking advantage of her healer role and lack of soldiers.

“Your target is here.”

As he had suspected, her exhausted body made her taunt spell relatively weak. His own jeer was more than enough to gain the attention of the commander’s attackers, and to ultimately destroy the sole thing her martyr mission banked on. 

Inhale: his blade moved before he did.

Exhale: silver pierced the witch’s chest.

She let out a cry, dropping her broom to grab a hold of his sword. The moment he caught onto what she was trying to do, Elwin’s face darkened. Changing his grip on his sword, he pushed the palm of his hand onto the pommel to hurl his sword at the harpy. Both bodies became skewered onto the tree, with the harpy attempting to tear itself free and the witch becoming motionless.

Commander was quick to use the time to heal herself, breathing heavily as her mind tries to catch up with her rapidly repairing body. She looked over at Elwin as she stood up from the ground.

“Thank you.” Her voice was meek and weak. Hearing it made his throat burn and his stomach churn.

“I haven’t even gotten you back yet.”

“Yeah, let’s make sure that I won’t be the only one.” Amidst all her bruises and scratches, she still managed to smile at him.

Both turned their heads the moment their ears heard Elwin’s sword hit the ground, along with the witch’s body and the harpy’s foot. 

“Seriously?” He groaned as he witnessed the harpy’s missing limb reginerate. 

“Witch casted a regenerate spell on the harpy earlier; pretty much what screwed me over, almost.” The commander walked up to Elwin, gaining his full attention by putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll cover you, okay?”

He nodded at the woman before whipping his head to face the harpy that was closing in on them. Elwin scowled, defending Commander from any possible attacks with his own body. 

“May your soul be purified,” Commander began to mutter one of her chants under her breath. A radiating glow emitted from her circling hands, enlarging as she quickened her speed. “And may your soul rest in peace.”

She casted the ball of light onto the harpy, the bird demon screeching at the holy spell that started to peel away its feathers. As the bird was trying to blow away the invisible flames with its wings, Elwin retrieved his sword. He gripped his sword tightly, the sun’s rays radiating and reflecting off of the blade that was hung high in the sky. Just like the eyes of its wielder, it locked in on the remainder of today’s despair. This one strike was all he needed.

The bird elevated itself higher in the air in preparation of launching its wind attacks at-

“Too slow!”

That one strike was all he needed. The harpy’s body, now sliced into two, unceremoniously fell on top of intestines and twigs. 

“Are you okay?” The commander rushed over to Elwin’s side. 

Almost automatically, Elwin responded, “Yeah, as nimble as can be-”

“I’ll check.” Before he could protest about Commander fretting over him, her scratched fingers grazed over shattered armor and dried crimson in a desperate attempt to ensure that the boy truly left that battle unscathed. She took a step back as she noticed how exposed his left arm was, lacking any protection or basic clothing that his antithesis dawned on.

“You don’t have to worry about me; I’ll always be here for you.” He headed towards the outskirts of the forest. Naturally, she followed quickly behind him.

She let out a grunt, her face contorting in sadness. “You took quite the blow.” 

Much to her surprise, Elwin had responded with a heartwarming laugh. “Yeah, a cavalier took me off guard and hit my shoulder pretty deep. Honestly, I wouldn’t be up and around had you not casted your healing spell on the battlefield.”

“Is that so.”

“Had you not done that, you wouldn’t even be here right now.” His voice softened. He couldn’t bother to hold back his frown. “I can’t protect a dead person, so please, don’t scare me like that again.”

Warmth began to burst inside of him yet again. Its logic was indescribable, but it made his heart race and his body lighten and his mind decay and it was unbearable, especially in his worn-out state.

“You’re too cool to go out...in such a sad…” Elwin struggled to finish his thoughts, stumbling over his feet. A walk that almost ended in him slamming face first into a tree was saved by Commander. The woman struggled but managed to hold an Elwin that was unintentionally putting all of his weight on her.

Like with the sun that refused to sheathe its warmth even in a sky filled with clouds, Elwin had found his peace in her arms. He put more of his weight on her in a shameless attempt to indulge, much to his commander’s chagrin. Only whines had emitted from her throat. 

“Thank you for letting me save you.”

No words can describe the amount of regret that can be heard from her sigh alone. She slowly descended onto the ground as she let the red haired male rest against her.

It was the least that she can do.

It was all that she could do.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for making it to the end. kudos, comments, and donations are greatly appreciated. and remember to always s support best lang boy!
> 
> donations: https://ko-fi.com/zhiro


End file.
